Planning ahead: the decisions worth making early
Almost everything on this page is straightforward if it is done before it is needed and difficult, slow or impossible if it is not. Powers of attorney, wills, advance decisions, benefits and the honest conversation about money all take weeks when there is time and months when there is not. This guide sets out what to put in place, in what order, and what to avoid doing with the house.
Lasting power of attorney
If you do one thing after reading this page, do this one. A lasting power of attorney lets someone the person trusts make decisions on their behalf if they become unable to make them. It has to be made while they still have the capacity to make it, and it has to be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used.
There are two types and you generally want both
A property and financial affairs LPA covers bank accounts, bills, pensions, benefits and, if it comes to it, selling a property. A health and welfare LPA covers medical treatment, day-to-day care and where the person lives. They are separate documents and a great many families make only the financial one, then find themselves with no standing at all in a decision about a care home. Make both.
Registration takes time, so start early
Registration with the Office of the Public Guardian is not instant, and an unregistered LPA cannot be used. A registration fee applies to each document, with reductions or exemptions available for people on low incomes or certain benefits. You do not need a solicitor to make an LPA, though it is sensible to take advice where there is property, a business, a blended family or any likelihood of disagreement.
Choose attorneys carefully, and more than one
Appoint at least one replacement attorney. Decide deliberately whether attorneys must act together on everything, or can act separately — requiring unanimity on every decision sounds safe and in practice paralyses things when one attorney is abroad or unwell. Talk to the people you are appointing before you name them.
If capacity has already gone
An LPA is no longer possible. The route is an application to the Court of Protection for a deputyship order, which takes months, costs considerably more, and comes with ongoing supervision and annual reporting. It works, but nobody who has done it recommends waiting.
- Lasting power of attorney — property and financial affairs
- Lasting power of attorney — health and welfare
- Both registered with the Office of the Public Guardian
- An up-to-date will, and everyone knows where it is
- An advance decision or advance statement, if wanted
- A benefits check — Attendance Allowance, Pension Credit
- A list of accounts, policies, pensions and passwords
- A named GP, and a recent medication review
- A written note of what the person wants, in their words
- An honest family conversation about money, once
What each document actually does
Health and welfare LPA
Lets an attorney make decisions about treatment, care and where the person lives, but only once they can no longer make those decisions themselves. It can include or exclude authority over life-sustaining treatment, and you have to choose which.
Property and financial affairs LPA
Can be used as soon as it is registered, with the person's permission, or later if capacity is lost. This is the one that keeps bills paid and, when necessary, allows a property to be sold to fund care.
Advance decision to refuse treatment
A legally binding refusal of specific treatments in specific circumstances. To refuse life-sustaining treatment it must be in writing, signed and witnessed, and say clearly that it applies even if life is at risk.
Advance statement
Not legally binding, but genuinely useful. It records preferences — routines, food, faith, who they want around, what matters to them — and must be taken into account in any best-interests decision.
Will
Separate from everything above and easily forgotten in the middle of a care crisis. If a property may be sold to pay for care, it is worth reviewing the will at the same time rather than years later.
Deputyship order
The Court of Protection route when no LPA exists and capacity has gone. Slower, more expensive and supervised. Available, but it is the position you plan to avoid.
What not to do with the property
The most common piece of well-meant advice families receive is to sign the house over to the children to protect it from care fees. It is also the advice most likely to cause harm, and it is worth understanding exactly why before anyone signs anything.
Deliberate deprivation of assets
If a local authority concludes that assets were given away in order to avoid or reduce care charges, it can treat the person as though they still owned them. That is called notional capital, and the practical effect is a bill for care that nobody has the money to pay. There is no fixed period after which a gift becomes safe: what matters is the intention at the time and whether care was a reasonably foreseeable prospect. The frequently repeated seven-year figure comes from inheritance tax and has nothing to do with care fees.
The twelve-week property disregard
When someone moves permanently into a care home, the value of their former home is disregarded for the first twelve weeks of the financial assessment. It exists to give families breathing space rather than forcing an immediate sale. Know about it before you put the house on the market in a panic.
When the home is disregarded indefinitely
The property is not counted at all while certain people still live there — a spouse or partner, a relative aged sixty or over, a relative who is incapacitated, or a child under eighteen. Councils sometimes also apply a discretionary disregard in other circumstances. This is worth checking carefully rather than assuming the house is in play.
Deferred payment agreements
Where the home is the main asset, a council can agree to defer care fees against the property, effectively lending the money until the house is sold or the estate is settled. Interest and administration charges apply. It is a legitimate and often sensible option that avoids a forced sale, and it is under-used because few people are told it exists. Full detail is in the care costs guide.
- Get the current care needs written down properly
- Check whether the property would be disregarded anyway
- Understand notional capital before, not after
- Take regulated advice on anything involving investments
- Take legal advice on anything involving a transfer of title
- Consider a deferred payment agreement instead
- Ask what happens to the other person living in the house
- Write down the reason for the decision, dated
A sensible sequence
Have the conversation once, properly
Not a series of hints over three years. One conversation, with the person at the centre of it, about what they would want and what they have. Write down what is said.
Make and register both LPAs
Everything else is easier once these exist. Start them now, because registration takes time and capacity is not something anyone can schedule.
Do a benefits check
Attendance Allowance is not means-tested and is routinely unclaimed. Pension Credit can open the door to other help. Carer's Allowance may apply to whoever is doing the caring, subject to an earnings limit.
Map the money honestly
Income, savings, property, pensions and any existing commitments. Then model what care would actually cost with the fees calculator, so the number is known before it is urgent.
Write down what good would look like
Where they would want to be, what they would not accept, who they want involved. This is what turns a rushed hospital decision into a decision that already had an answer.
The right person for each question
A lot of avoidable cost comes from asking the wrong professional the right question. This is roughly how the work divides up.
| What you need | Who does it | Roughly when | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lasting power of attorney | Yourselves, or a solicitor | While capacity is intact | Registration takes weeks, so start early |
| Will, trusts, transfers of property | A solicitor | Before any care crisis | Reserved legal work — we do not do this |
| Investments, annuities, care fee plans | An FCA-regulated adviser | Once the fee level is known | Regulated advice — we do not do this |
| Needs assessment and means test | The local authority | As soon as needs appear | Free, and a right under the Care Act |
| Continuing Healthcare | The NHS | Before a placement is agreed | See the CHC guide |
| Choosing and checking providers | Independent care advice | Before anything is signed | This is what we do |
Plan for the carer as well
A carer's assessment
A legal entitlement in its own right, separate from the person being cared for. It considers whether you are able and willing to keep going, and can lead to practical support. Ask the local authority for one.
Respite before it is needed
Regular short breaks established early are far more effective than emergency respite arranged in a crisis, and they make any later move much less frightening for everyone.
A contingency plan
Write down what happens if the main carer is ill for a fortnight. Who is called, in what order, and what they need to know. Most families have never done this and it is an hour's work.
Questions about planning ahead
Do I need a solicitor to make a lasting power of attorney?
No. Many people complete them without one. It is worth taking legal advice where there is a property, a business, a blended family, anyone likely to object, or where the person's capacity might later be questioned. A badly made LPA that is rejected on registration costs more time than getting it right first.
Can I use an LPA as soon as it is signed?
No. It must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian first, and that takes time. A financial LPA can then be used with the person's consent while they still have capacity; a health and welfare LPA can only be used once they cannot make the particular decision themselves.
What happens if there is no power of attorney and capacity is lost?
Nobody automatically gains the right to act — not a spouse, not a child. The route is an application to the Court of Protection for a deputyship order, which typically takes months and involves ongoing supervision and reporting. Meanwhile bills still need paying, which is where the real difficulty bites.
Can we give the house to the children to avoid care fees?
You can transfer a property, but if a council decides it was done to avoid care charges it can assess the person as if they still owned it. That leaves a care bill against money the family no longer has. There is no safe waiting period, and the seven-year rule people quote relates to inheritance tax, not care fees. Take proper legal advice before any transfer.
Will the council take the house?
No. Councils do not take property. The house may be counted as capital in a financial assessment, which is a different thing, and it is disregarded entirely while certain people still live there — a spouse or partner, a relative aged sixty or over, an incapacitated relative, or a child under eighteen. Where it is counted, a deferred payment agreement can avoid a forced sale.
Is Attendance Allowance affected by savings or a pension?
No. It is not means-tested and it is not taxable. It is paid on the basis of the help someone needs, not what they have. It is also one of the most commonly unclaimed benefits in the country, particularly among people who assume they are too well off to qualify.
What is the difference between an advance decision and an advance statement?
An advance decision is a legally binding refusal of specific treatment in specific circumstances, and to cover life-sustaining treatment it must be written, signed and witnessed. An advance statement records wishes and preferences more generally; it is not binding but must be taken into account when decisions are made in someone's best interests.
How much money should we assume care will cost?
Not a national average — use the actual fee for the actual home you are considering, because averages vary enormously by region and setting and none of them will be your number. Once you have a quoted fee, the calculator will show you the weekly shortfall after income and benefits, and roughly how long savings would last.
When is the right time to start all this?
Before anyone thinks it is necessary. In practice, a good trigger is any of the following: a first fall, a new diagnosis, a hospital admission, the death of a spouse, or the point at which one adult child starts quietly doing the shopping every week. If any of those has happened, it is time.
Can My Care Direction help with this?
We help with the care side: working out what is actually needed, what it will cost, which funding routes apply and what to do next. We are independent health and social care experts and take no commission from providers. We do not provide FCA-regulated financial advice and we do not carry out reserved legal activities such as drafting wills or transferring property. Where those are needed we will say so and introduce you to a regulated professional.
Take it further
Who pays for care
Capital limits, means testing and the property rules explained in full.
Dementia care
What changes, when to move, and the funding families are not told about.
Finding good care
Choosing a provider on things that actually predict quality.
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